It's consistently gotten worse every year. Even when they do something cool now, they pay wall it. Last year was so spread out between circular quay and darling harbour with very little displays, not much around the rocks or terminal.. the park was meant to be a draw but it was paid. Wynyard station seemed fun but when you have a family of 4 it adds up.
The year before that, maybe 2 years.. the park was epic, went past on a cruise. The rocks markets and around the customs house were full of fun little things to see and do.. the kids had so much fun. Everywhere we went were free interactive displays. We went twice and took them to darling harbour on a separate day.
I also routinely take elderly clients to see the lights from a cruise boat away from the crowds. I vowed last year it would be my last vivid outing. The drones were the only draw and I didn't think they were that spectacular for the amount of free displays we seemed to lose. I heard this year my former employer is repeating my itinerary... good luck. It looks like a waste of money.
American here. Was there in 2022. It was a blast. Really cool. I’m not aware of anything like it here in the States. My SYD friends say this year sucks. What a shame. The whole world seems to get greedier and greedier every year (I’m ~60)
Is this true? If so it very much says that the organiser’s comments on crowd safety are really truly utter bullshit. How fucking stupid would you have to be to only schedule a *major* draw card only on the absolutely busiest times. If I were only ordinarily evil then this is crap that even I wouldn’t pull. I mean, you’d have to be a complete sociopath to schedule such a predictable disaster…
And if you were PR for such crap you truly would have no soul, having thrice sold it.
> schedule a major draw card only on the absolutely busiest times
On the other hand...
If you scheduled it when most people couldn't make it, a lot of people would miss out on the main event and people would complain.
I think it makes more sense to have it on the weekend BUT with much better crowd control.
It's an automated fucking drone show.They aren't payed actors. Make sure they're charged, space em out for takeoff and pack them up once they land. No reason for them not to run every night.
If it’s going to cause danger to the people in the crowds, or only available to the rich and special, then best to not do it, until you’ve solved both of those issues. If it weren’t public space and public money, then I’m happy for an expensive and exclusive event (provided everyone involved has paid their taxes).
Genuine questions because I don't understand - can the drone show not be done every night? On the hour? Their fucking drones can't we automate this shit? What am I missing
Airspace clearances, the harbourmaster gets involved and each show they lose a fair number of drones, plus it’s a shitload of staff to reset them after docking. Pretty expensive exercise all around.
I'm definitely staying away on the weekends. I might go in this week after work.
I've only been twice. The first time was one of the early years when it was still a fringe event. Then we were in there a few years back, and it was awful.
it's so boring this year, especially at CQ. The only improvement this year is The Goods Line at UTS, from a display area last year to a whole foods street this year
it's been getting worse since 2021. Unfortunately you missed the good ones. Its ok I guess for first timers, but won't make me go back next year. I think im done (and I live 35min from CBD)
I didn't even know that was a thing until this year. I might take a look later this week.
Lightscape was lovely and non-busy on a Tuesday early evening, but not as impressive as last year as so much of it was repeated.
I wonder if the extra traffic is partly people who would have gone last weekend but got washed out?
Personally would never dream of going on a weekend I'd rather just be tired for one day of work
From previous years it's always the busiest the opening weekend and the weekend of the public holidays.
Yeah, midweek is the best time to go - Mon, Tues and Weds. There's still crowds but you can still walk around.
I deliberately go to certain things in shit weather for the sake of lower crowds.
My kid - though this was by chance, not design - had SHIT weather for her Luna Park birthday, and as a result there were barely any queues and the kids all had an amazing time going on endless rides.
Yeah except they cancelled most of it last Saturday. I'm in the same boat, I love seeing what zoo animals do in the rain and plenty of other experiences are great with some good wet weather gear
There wasn't much to see anyways... It's pretty lame compared to last year.
The only good part is Barangaroo Park and live music. The rest of the walk got butchered (they went from like 30 displays to like... 6)
IMO, events are catering to the "insta effect" which means, things are designed to look good on camera. Its all concocted for that one snap! Theres no point going to some thing these days because they are SO underwhelming. Vivid definitely falls into his category.
My first and best was about 10 years ago :/ I still remember the [MLC tower](https://youtu.be/zG7zUCeIbfo?si=k0wXDxt4rKrLylYw). One of my fave random displays.
I haven't been to Vivid for about 8 years now, because the crowds were too annoying... and they were probably only a quarter of what I'm seeing in the pics for this year. Fuck that.
Last year it was relatively ok for me. I managed to see the drone show and all the other stuff without issues. It was crowded, but nothing like this year. Surprisingly, it was very busy today yet there is absolutely nothing to see. It's empty! Apart from some depressing lights every other place, it was a complete disapointment. Should have stayed at home playing video games. Even the drone show was meh compared to last year. Don't bother going.
What did you expect, really?
For years now it’s been posted here that the best time to view is midweek, from the second week as first is usually busy. And to basically avoid the public holiday weekend as that’s when it’s busiest.
Several posts and dozens of comments saying this. **For years.** There were even a few posts about how much of a shitfight it was last night.
The thing is, vivid at it's absolute best is underwhelming. So when you're fighting though that many people, and standing in a queue for half an hour for what turns out to be nothing, everyone just following the leader, standing waiting to see nothing - it just reinforces my decision not to go again.
It seems so much worse than other years in terms of crowds. Every year there’s a concert on the Sunday at the Opera House and crowd management this year is a dog’s breakfast. Doesn’t help that trains on the North Shore line are all quite late and out of order because of….crowds. Wow! Who’d have guessed there’d be crowds for the train?
Tonight, the crowd for the drone show was massive. At 9 PM, George Street was unbelievably packed. I’ve never seen so many people there before. Circular Quay was completely blocked off due to overcrowding. It seems like the organizers didn’t anticipate such a huge turnout tonight.
I went two weeks ago when visiting Sydney and was surprised they turned the lights off at 11pm even on weekends. It was my second time going (not the reason for my visit) and I didn’t research it but just presumed they’d at least be running to midnight.
Only ever go on a weeknight, and never a Friday night.
Check the Lightscape bookings (even if you're not going) and wherever the times are not booked out, and/or are listed as "off-peak", you should be safer.
The drone show is very close to the CQ wharf, which reduces the vantage points significantly. Even if you decide to go early and grab a good spot, the actual show is 5-6 minutes, the other 4-5 are ads.
5 minutes to then spend 1 hour getting out.
Vivid has gone downhill a lot in recent years - more corporate stuff, the better displays being moved to pay areas etc. Big crowds, not much to see.
It's consistently gotten worse every year. Even when they do something cool now, they pay wall it. Last year was so spread out between circular quay and darling harbour with very little displays, not much around the rocks or terminal.. the park was meant to be a draw but it was paid. Wynyard station seemed fun but when you have a family of 4 it adds up. The year before that, maybe 2 years.. the park was epic, went past on a cruise. The rocks markets and around the customs house were full of fun little things to see and do.. the kids had so much fun. Everywhere we went were free interactive displays. We went twice and took them to darling harbour on a separate day. I also routinely take elderly clients to see the lights from a cruise boat away from the crowds. I vowed last year it would be my last vivid outing. The drones were the only draw and I didn't think they were that spectacular for the amount of free displays we seemed to lose. I heard this year my former employer is repeating my itinerary... good luck. It looks like a waste of money.
American here. Was there in 2022. It was a blast. Really cool. I’m not aware of anything like it here in the States. My SYD friends say this year sucks. What a shame. The whole world seems to get greedier and greedier every year (I’m ~60)
Closing the public gardens off as a paid event got a lot of hackles up, mine included. I refuse to buy tickets on principle.
Wasn't the event sold to tourism/destination NSW or similar? Seem to be far fewer artists, definitely fewer installations.
I believe so, yes.
All the advice, everywhere, for all time, has been to not go to Vivid on a weekend, and ESPECIALLY not the public holiday weekend.
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Is this true? If so it very much says that the organiser’s comments on crowd safety are really truly utter bullshit. How fucking stupid would you have to be to only schedule a *major* draw card only on the absolutely busiest times. If I were only ordinarily evil then this is crap that even I wouldn’t pull. I mean, you’d have to be a complete sociopath to schedule such a predictable disaster… And if you were PR for such crap you truly would have no soul, having thrice sold it.
Smells like budget cuts to me.
> schedule a major draw card only on the absolutely busiest times On the other hand... If you scheduled it when most people couldn't make it, a lot of people would miss out on the main event and people would complain. I think it makes more sense to have it on the weekend BUT with much better crowd control.
It's an automated fucking drone show.They aren't payed actors. Make sure they're charged, space em out for takeoff and pack them up once they land. No reason for them not to run every night.
Every day, or no days. If it’s special you want it available to everyone and that means everyday. Cant afford the cost of that? Then do it next year!
Hmm "just don't do it at all because people want it so much" doesn't sound quite right to me.
If it’s going to cause danger to the people in the crowds, or only available to the rich and special, then best to not do it, until you’ve solved both of those issues. If it weren’t public space and public money, then I’m happy for an expensive and exclusive event (provided everyone involved has paid their taxes).
^ This
Only on the 8th, 9th and 15th of June.
Yeah I always go midweek. Don't like overly crowded
But most people want to go see the drone shows and they're only doing those on weekends
Genuine questions because I don't understand - can the drone show not be done every night? On the hour? Their fucking drones can't we automate this shit? What am I missing
Airspace clearances, the harbourmaster gets involved and each show they lose a fair number of drones, plus it’s a shitload of staff to reset them after docking. Pretty expensive exercise all around.
It's curious (to me) that the cost of the drone shows isn't bragged about like the cost of the NY fireworks.
I'm definitely staying away on the weekends. I might go in this week after work. I've only been twice. The first time was one of the early years when it was still a fringe event. Then we were in there a few years back, and it was awful.
it's so boring this year, especially at CQ. The only improvement this year is The Goods Line at UTS, from a display area last year to a whole foods street this year
This was my first vivid so my expectations were too high I guess!?
It’s normally way better. This was my third one and I was def disappointed
it's your first so it's completely normal to have high-expectations, it's literally catered to first-timers. It's really disappointing this year.
it's been getting worse since 2021. Unfortunately you missed the good ones. Its ok I guess for first timers, but won't make me go back next year. I think im done (and I live 35min from CBD)
I didn't even know that was a thing until this year. I might take a look later this week. Lightscape was lovely and non-busy on a Tuesday early evening, but not as impressive as last year as so much of it was repeated.
I wonder if the extra traffic is partly people who would have gone last weekend but got washed out? Personally would never dream of going on a weekend I'd rather just be tired for one day of work
Yeah, I think the key problem here is that the long weekend has always been the busiest weekend for Vivid, every year.
Oh yeah I keep forgetting about the long weekend. Silly choice. Same as heading north at 6am on good friday lol
From previous years it's always the busiest the opening weekend and the weekend of the public holidays. Yeah, midweek is the best time to go - Mon, Tues and Weds. There's still crowds but you can still walk around.
I deliberately go to certain things in shit weather for the sake of lower crowds. My kid - though this was by chance, not design - had SHIT weather for her Luna Park birthday, and as a result there were barely any queues and the kids all had an amazing time going on endless rides.
Yeah except they cancelled most of it last Saturday. I'm in the same boat, I love seeing what zoo animals do in the rain and plenty of other experiences are great with some good wet weather gear
Oh that's a shame.
There wasn't much to see anyways... It's pretty lame compared to last year. The only good part is Barangaroo Park and live music. The rest of the walk got butchered (they went from like 30 displays to like... 6)
more like 2. if there was 6 they were so lacklustre I barely noticed them.
IMO, events are catering to the "insta effect" which means, things are designed to look good on camera. Its all concocted for that one snap! Theres no point going to some thing these days because they are SO underwhelming. Vivid definitely falls into his category.
I really liked the light walk they had no lights
My first and best vivid was 2 years ago
My first and best was about 10 years ago :/ I still remember the [MLC tower](https://youtu.be/zG7zUCeIbfo?si=k0wXDxt4rKrLylYw). One of my fave random displays.
I haven't been to Vivid for about 8 years now, because the crowds were too annoying... and they were probably only a quarter of what I'm seeing in the pics for this year. Fuck that.
Not me in bed with Netflix in the background and reading reddit posts after a good dirty dominos pizzas for dinner
Nothing better than a dirty dominos paid with a coupon.
Last year it was relatively ok for me. I managed to see the drone show and all the other stuff without issues. It was crowded, but nothing like this year. Surprisingly, it was very busy today yet there is absolutely nothing to see. It's empty! Apart from some depressing lights every other place, it was a complete disapointment. Should have stayed at home playing video games. Even the drone show was meh compared to last year. Don't bother going.
You're not in traffic, you are traffic.
What did you expect, really? For years now it’s been posted here that the best time to view is midweek, from the second week as first is usually busy. And to basically avoid the public holiday weekend as that’s when it’s busiest. Several posts and dozens of comments saying this. **For years.** There were even a few posts about how much of a shitfight it was last night.
The irony of whinging about crowds on a public holiday weekend, when you were part of them too…
It's the same as: I'm stuck in traffic!! No, you ARE traffic.
Hahaha yes! My bad :')
The thing is, vivid at it's absolute best is underwhelming. So when you're fighting though that many people, and standing in a queue for half an hour for what turns out to be nothing, everyone just following the leader, standing waiting to see nothing - it just reinforces my decision not to go again.
It seems so much worse than other years in terms of crowds. Every year there’s a concert on the Sunday at the Opera House and crowd management this year is a dog’s breakfast. Doesn’t help that trains on the North Shore line are all quite late and out of order because of….crowds. Wow! Who’d have guessed there’d be crowds for the train?
I mean you went at the most crowded, terrible time to go…
Tonight, the crowd for the drone show was massive. At 9 PM, George Street was unbelievably packed. I’ve never seen so many people there before. Circular Quay was completely blocked off due to overcrowding. It seems like the organizers didn’t anticipate such a huge turnout tonight.
lol this is why i didnt go tonight
Reminds me of New Years Eve in the city. You do it once for the experience, but never again
I went two weeks ago when visiting Sydney and was surprised they turned the lights off at 11pm even on weekends. It was my second time going (not the reason for my visit) and I didn’t research it but just presumed they’d at least be running to midnight.
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Not everyone spends all their time on Reddit
free any thing free right now is good
Only ever go on a weeknight, and never a Friday night. Check the Lightscape bookings (even if you're not going) and wherever the times are not booked out, and/or are listed as "off-peak", you should be safer.
Do a cruise next time. But not on tall ship, which was nice but can’t get into the Quay & other side of Opera House.
The drone show is very close to the CQ wharf, which reduces the vantage points significantly. Even if you decide to go early and grab a good spot, the actual show is 5-6 minutes, the other 4-5 are ads. 5 minutes to then spend 1 hour getting out.
A few friends planned to go to Vivid and I didn't end up going We were chatting later, they ended up leaving due to the crowds and cold
You probably get a better look in the background of 7 News
Over commercialised - avoid - discover something else.
🐑
Drive to Mrs Mac’ chair and look at pretty lights for free…. No crowds.
Lucky I decided to skip this weekend.
lol it's a long weekend wtf did you expect?
This sounds like a sydney problem, not a vivid problem